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Britain's BBR already promising 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata with 200+ horsepower

The 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata is one of Autoblog's most anticipated cars to drive this year, and with good reason. Thanks to svelte, angular styling, the promise of less weight, the possibility of more power and all at a fairly affordable price, it represents pure, automotive enjoyment. Mazda is still not saying exactly how much power the new Miata's 2.0-liter Skyactiv four-cylinder engine will make, but that isn't keeping British tuner BBR from already working out how to squeeze even more ponies from the mill – potentially as much as 200 horsepower with natural aspiration. The company bought a Mazda3 for access to its 2.0-liter Skyactiv and went to work on it. "Our objective with the all-new MX-5 is to achieve the same 200 bhp output that we can easily enjoy with simple bolt-on components on the current 2.0-litre NC model, before building on further power upgrades using forced induction," said Neil McKay of BBR in the company's release. The 3's version of the engine is rated at 155 hp and 150 pound-feet of torque but is expected to be tuned for additional grunt for the droptop. Still, it gives BBR something to experiment with before the real thing is available. The tuner also got the opportunity to take a look at a pre-production 2016 Miata and is already developing "subtle bodywork alterations" for the upcoming convertible. You can get a taste for the company's plans with the rendering above. It sports tinted lights, a front lip spoiler, lower side sills and a tiny rear spoiler. Scroll down to read more about BBR's plans in the official announcement. BBR UNVEILS STUNNING 200 BHP ALL-NEW MAZDA MX-5 CONCEPT Despite deliveries not scheduled to begin until July, legendary Mazda performance tuner BBR is making great progress with both its visual concept and powertrain development for the all-new MX-5. "A program of detailed performance enhancements has already commenced at our Brackley base," says BBR's Neil Mckay, "thanks to our investment in a 2.0-litre Skyactiv powered Mazda 3. Our objective with the all-new MX-5 is to achieve the same 200 bhp output that we can easily enjoy with simple bolt-on components on the current 2.0-litre NC model, before building on further power upgrades using forced induction." Having viewed a pre-production version of the car BBR is also working hard on visual enhancements to add more presence to the svelte lines of the all-new MX-5.

Mazda6 diesel is coming, too, Mazda promises (again)

As we noted our piece earlier today about the CX-5 diesel, we've been waiting for Mazda to bring its Skyactiv-D engines to market for years. Tripped up by an emissions certification nightmare that caused delays and resulted in lackluster power and fuel economy numbers, they're late to the party. In the CX-5 diesel, it's also a questionable proposition at almost $4,000 more than the much more powerful CX-5 Turbo. But today, Mazda's U.S. president confirmed to Autoblog that the diesel engine would make its way into the 6. Like the CX-5, it'll only be offered with all-wheel drive and only on the top Signature trim level. Unlike the CX-5 diesel, which goes on sale in July, we don't know when the Skyactiv-D-powered 6 will go on sale. But it seems like later this year is a good bet. How much longer can Mazda wait, really, once the CX-5 diesel is on sale? The diesel Mazda6 will use the same 2.2-liter engine as the CX-5. It'll probably offer the same power figures – 168 horsepower at 4,000 rpm and 290 pound-feet of torque from a low 2,000 rpm, with a 5,500-rpm redline. The fuel economy bonus for choosing a diesel over the turbocharged gas engine should roughly parallel the difference in the CX-5: about 5 mpg in the city and 3 mph on the highway. That said, we don't know the 6's EPA fuel economy numbers yet. We expect the price premium to roughly parallel the CX-5 as well, so the diesel will likely be several thousand dollars more than the gas turbo engine in the same Signature trim. These are educated guesses, of course, and when we have firmer numbers or solid estimates from Mazda we'll let you know.

The spirit of these 7 weird Mazdas lives on in today's cars

HIROSHIMA, Japan — When visiting the Mazda Museum in Hiroshima, housed amidst the company's main manufacturing site on the shore of the Enko River, you can follow Jujiro Matsuda's early 20th century entrepreneurial path from artificial cork manufacturer to machine and machine toolmaker, to motor vehicle producer. But probe a bit deeper into the exhibits, and you can uncover more than just a chronicle of corporate achievements: delightfully weird outliers, paragons of oddball design, engineering and marketing solutions It's looking at these delightful misfits that really illustrates Mazda's tale. You can also see precisely how many of these vintage conveyances led directly (or indirectly, or obtusely) to Mazda's most iconic American-market cars and trucks. Our seven favorite precursors, and their lovable successors, are listed below. 1931 Type TCS/Mazda B-Series Mazda's first vehicle was this little three-wheeler, powered by an air-cooled, one-cylinder motor. Because the company lacked a distribution network at the time, the trucklet was marketed by Mitsubishi; hence the three-diamond pattern on its side. All of this is very reminiscent of the company's eventual foray into the U.S. market, where its sales were spearheaded by compact pickups. The B-Series, which was one of the first Mazda vehicles available in the U.S., arrived in 1972, and stuck around through the first decade of the 21st century. Like its partnership with Mitsubishi, Mazda teamed up with stakeholder Ford to market this little truck as Ford's first small pickup, the Courier, the precursor to the Ranger. There was even a rotary-powered B-Series for a few years, but we're getting ahead of ourselves. 1968 Bongo Van/Mazda5 The Bongo allegedly was the first one-box van design in Japan, and apparently it was so popular that the name Bongo became, for a period of time, the generic metonym for the category—the way that Kleenex is a stand-in for all facial tissue. With a tiny rear-mounted engine and a planar expanse of metal to push around, it was not particularly fast, but it was both spacious and innovative. The same could be said of the brand's mini-minivan, the Mazda5, which was available for a couple of generations in the States in the Aughties. Sadly, the name 5 never caught on as a synonym for fun-to-drive family hauler, at least not yet, and the category itself (like nearly every other car category) was crushed in America by the rise of the crossover.